Legacy of the Dark Queen
by AngryPurplePenguin
Summary: The story follows the Battletoads quest to stop the heir to the Dark Queen which inevitably leads them to Earth in a fight against the Ninja Turtles.
1. Chapter 1

A bright flash of light erupted in the void of space as the Dark Queen's Dimensional Platform fell out of hyperspace into real space. The ship was long, flat and completely black. Or, at least, it had been originally before the events of the past two hours. Now the ship was trailing a field of debris like some misshapen comet. Along the hull, the metal glowed red in patches and was completely missing in other areas. No more explosions rocked the starship on the outside, now the violence took place deep within it.

Inside, the hallways were littered with collapsed walls, dangling wires and bodies of dead Psyko Pigs. Sirens blared, drowning out the sounds of the countless fires that ravaged the interior of the ship. The lights flickered intermittently in a confused state of not knowing whether to switch to backup power or keep draining the primaries. Deeper inside the ship, a wall collapsed as a bright green humanoid toad flew through it, having been thrown by a huge and obese rat.

"Nyahhh!" The eight foot rat hissed, as it rocked on it's haunches in amusement, "You may have bested the Dark Queens' army once more, but this time, nyahh, this time I will have toad soup!"

The bright green toad groaned and rolled over on its back only to have the rat grab it by the throat, pulling it into the air. The toad gripped the rat claw with both hands and began to struggle to breath.

"Throw the dark ones down, velvet fist, iron glove!" A brown colored toad came running in from another room and struck the rat in the back of the head causing it to drop the toad it had in its claws.

"You have signed your own death warrant, Pimple!" The rat turned toward the brown toad, Pimple, and arched its back.

Electricity arched over the rat, its paws curled into fists as it threw its arms back. The rat began to grow in size, gaining a foot in height.

"I was saving this one for you, Blag," Pimple spoke as he twisted down in a pose, curling his right arm in a flex, "Battlesword, go!"

With that, Pimples' left arm turned into a sword and immediately he was up and lunging at Blag.

"Nice to see you learned some new moves, cattleload!" Blag dodged the initial strike, wiped around and brought his spiked tail to bear on Pimple who had rolled to correct his dive.

The spiked tail missed, shattering the floor paneling under it. Blags tail found its way into the floor, twisting and warping the metal until it had become entangled, now he struggled with trying to remove it for another swing. A now standing Pimple rebounded off a nearby wall, bringing his sword arm down, slicing Blags' tail in half. Blag howled in pain as his bluish-purple blood began to spill from his ruined tail.

"My tail!" Blag roared as he racked his claws across the back of Pimple, shredding his artificially thickened skin.

"Blitzkrieg, Blag!" A third toad yelled, rushing Blag from the side with two outstretched arms that had been turned into Morningstar's.

Blag turned to counter this on impulse and ended up getting ran through by Pimples' sword-arm. Pimple twisted once then jerked his sword-arm out through Blags' chest creating a massive fountain of gore and blood.

"Sunnuvabitch, Pimple! Was that damn necessary?" The new toad said, his arms returning to normal.

"Damn straight it was, daddy-o!" Pimples' own arm returning to normal.

These were the Battletoads, a group of three beings from another dimension who had been forced into the shape of giant upright walking toads that could modify the shape of their limbs at will. They were pledged to stop the Dark Queen and her machinations whenever and wherever they appeared. The one that had just walked in was the leader, Zitz, a bluish-green colored toad. The bright green toad that had been knocked out in the initial fight was Rash, the support fighter of the group. Then there was Pimple, the tank of the group.

Zitz walked over to the facedown Rash, kneeled and then place a right hand on Rashs' right shoulder, "Rash, you ok, bro?"

Rash began to stir, coughing and choking from a now sore windpipe.

"…oh man, that damn rat nearly got me this time!" Rash spoke hoarsely as he rolled over, rubbing his throat.

"No time for that, bro," Pimple walked over, extending his hand to pull Rash up, "There is a Dark Queen to defeat."

All three toads, now standing, turned toward a door marked "VOLKMIRE LAB" and kicked it down in unison.

As the Battletoads tore through the Dark Queens defenses, she was herself rushing through the lab of her second in command, Silas Volkmire. Although the toads had destroyed Silas a few days earlier when he had confronted them with his digitally manifested monstrosities, the Queen had kept his digital reproducer going from what she had learned from him. Now she held the fruition of this act in her hands, an heir to her throne should the toads defeat her once and for all.

There was a loud crash near the front of the lab and she knew the toads had come for her. The final straw had been snapped and the camel was dead. She had killed Princess Angelica and destroyed any sense of stability the regional planetary governments had. Anarchy was finally running throughout the star systems and she was pledged to bring order to the self-created mayhem. It was her latest plot to rule the galaxy and it had been terrifyingly successful, that is, until Professor T. Bird had managed to get a hold of the Battletoads and bring them back from their search for their home dimension. Now the end was drawing near for the Dark Queen thanks to those shape shifting reptilians.

The Dark Queen took off running, clutching the artificial child to her chest, toward the escape pod bay. As she left the lab and entered the hallway, she pressed a large panic button located by the door. Immediately, another version of Robo-Manus began to be lowered from the ceiling. Robo-Manus had many manifestations, many bodies, one of which was installed in the lab just for this very reason. Her hope was that he would be able to hold off the Battletoads long enough for her to escape.

"Reactor overheating! Containment failure imminent!" The central computer boomed over the PA system

The fight was lost, the Dark Queen realized as she ran down a destroyed hallway. Fires were everywhere sucking up the life support, the structural damage done before the Battletoads had even boarded the ship was immense and now, she was sure they were doing it no favors by being inside.

Behind her, she heard a large explosion and felt the whole ship tremble. It wouldn't be long now and this whole place would go up. In front of her, she reached the door to the escape pods and began to frantically press a series of numbers into the keypad. The keypad bleeped an acceptance of her code and the door slid up.

Inside the bay, the Dark Queen saw that most of the pods were gone and the ones that weren't gone had definitely seen better days. What cowards had fled during the most epic fight yet between the Queen and the Toads? She found a pod that was still functioning and placed the artificial child inside of it.

"Talk about some gnarly action, huh, li'l girly?" The Dark Queen grimly joked as she strapped the infant in place.

As she was about to get in herself, a blast from a laser gun tore through her back and escaped through her chest, barely missing her heart. She reared her head back in a silent gasp, her eyes bulging and fell to her knees.

"Nice try Dark Queen, now it's time for you to enter the sandman!" Pimple walked in, smugly smiling and holding the laser gun, taken from Robo-manus, that had mortally wounded her.

The Dark Queen, gasping for air, slowly turned around having now sank to a sitting position but her hand still managing to reach an exterior pod control.

"I won't… give you… the pleasure…" She choked out forcefully, then pressed the pod seal button.

The pod sealed shut and immediately launched. The power supply was too weak to close the pods' escape chamber causing the whole bay to rapidly decompress. The Dark Queen was immediately sucked out into space. Pimple dropped his gun and managed to grab the door frame, keeping himself from being sucked out as well.

"Hold on, Pimple!" Rash yelled as he began to pound commands into a wall console that controlled the bulkhead trying seal off the pod bay.

"I could climb until I reach where angels reside, or drop until I reach the dark side, but I don't think I'll be getting out of this one!" Pimples hands began to slip on the door frame.

It was no use, the bulkhead came down, sealing off the pod bay. Rash began to pound the wall as Pimple was sucked out into space.

***END EPISODE ONE***


	2. Chapter 2

Twenty years after the Dark Queens defeat.

"…you…"

A twisting, shaking hallway. Running footsteps. Whistling.

"…I see you…"

Frantically shifting left and right. Where is it coming from? Where to go? How long is this hallway?

"…I am coming for you…"

Red, it's all red. Heat, blood, fire. The eyes of a vulture staring down from the sky, coming closer and closer. The beak opens and out pours a million razors…

"Oh bloody hell!" April O'Neil yelled as she jerked awake in her bed.

It was the second time this dream had came to her. It was the first time, though, that she had heard the voice. If this kept up, it would be a long time before she would be able to sleep in the dark again.

Sitting upright in her bed now, April drew her knees up to her chest then rested her cheek against them. She wrapped her arms around her knees, closed her eyes and fell back to sleep.

"It's been a while toads." A projection of Professor T. Bird spoke to the two remaining Battletoads.

Zitz and Rash sat in plush revolving chairs that were part of a bank of chairs that surrounded an Omni-directional screen. Under the screen was a table which held miniatures of planets and figurines.

"It's only been about a month to us…" Rash said grimly.

After the defeat of the Dark Queen, there was no need for the Battletoads so they left for their own dimension. The time stream seemed to go at different speeds between T. Birds dimension and the Battletoads home dimension. Where as twenty years had passed to T. Bird, only a month had passed for the Battletoads. Before they left, Professor T. Bird had begun investigating why so many dimensions were falling out of synch with each other as it wasn't just the toads dimension showing this discrepancy.

"Yes, the time slippage, it's only getting worse." Professor T. Bird was a four foot tall humanoid eagle-like creature that sported several cybernetic appendages and attachments. It was understood that Professor T. Bird was more machine than not. It was never even clear to the Battletoads what species he was or where he even came from. The Professor had just been there to train them, lead them and then set them free when the Dark Queen died.

"How much time has passed here?" Zitz shifted in his seat.

"Twenty years,"

"Far out!" Rash exclaimed, jerking forward in his seat.

"Yes, far out indeed, and it is only getting worse as time goes on." The image of the Professor flickered out of focus than returned. When it did, he had papers in his hands.

"So I'm guessing you didn't invite us back for a reunion, did you?" It was Zitz this time.

"Quite right, toads. No, the reason I summoned you back to this dimension is that I have come across something interesting." The Professor disappeared and was replaced by an image of Silas Volkmire, who looked like a flaming skull surrounded by a cloak of mist.

"Silas Volkmire, the Dark Queens number two was experimenting creating living digital manifestations of whatever his twisted mind could conjure,"

"Dudes shit gone ruined for it too." Rash said, pointing at the image.

Silas disappeared and the Professor returned.

"I never understood why the Dark Queen didn't use her magic to escape, just like she had so many times before. This point bothered me for years until I came across one of Silas's old labs on Galmrent four." A hologram of Galmrent four appeared below the screen, "There, I discovered plans to create an heir for the Dark Queen, a Dark Princess if you will."

Zitz pounded a fist on the table, "The sacred and the profane, like a blasphemous contract, just like black on black!" He pounded his fist again.

"We're about to be back in black!" Rash chimed in.

"I'm glad I have your attention,"

"Oh, you've got it, doc, you've got it. She'll never get to be Dark Queen." Zitz was flexing his right bicep.

"Good," The hologram changed below Professor T. Bird to that of another planet, "The heir has been found!"

"Lets kick some ass!" Rash exclaimed, jumping to his feet and then pumping his right fist.

"All in due time. As we speak, we are enroute to the planet she was hidden on. This was why the Dark Queen did not use her powers to escape, she used them to mask her heirs escape."

"So she is protected well?" Zitz was calmer than Rash.

"No, surprisingly, nothing relating to the Dark Queen was sent with the Princess. But during the course of her own natural progression, she has befriended a group of Battleturtles, the dimension we are heading to equivalent of you guys, the Battletoads." Four humanoid turtles began to appear, one by one, on the screen.

"Your stats say their kills aren't even in the same digits as ours." Zitz was scrutinizing the information being presented in the holograms.

"They have yet to become battle hardened as you two have. They should not prove to be much of a threat, but still, caution is the key."

"How long until we get there?""Twelve hours."

"I'll see you later." A hockey masked man said, turning to walk down an alley.

"Goodbye." April called back to Casey Jones as he left.

He was always there, somewhere, in the shadows watching over her. Like a hockey playing prince charming, Casey was her lover and her protector. Tonight, they would meet for a night walk through central park where hopefully, she would get to see his moves get used on an unsuspecting purse snatcher. The prospect excited her greatly.

"Hey, princess, you ready yet?" The camera man broke her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah, smartass!" She hated it when he called her that.

April jogged from the alley to in front of the pizzeria that was serving as the center piece of her news story. It was grand opening day and also a slow news day, a bad combination.

"Pizzeria grand opening, take one!" Camera man said, lining the shot up.

"This is April O'Neil reporting," She raised the mic to her mouth as she spoke, "and today is a monumental occasion, the ten thousandth pizzeria to open in New York is having it's grand opening…" O'Neil lowers her mic and sighs.

"What?" The camera man is clearly frustrated.

"This is bullshit, that's what.""Your point?"

"Forget it." She raises her mic again, "This is April O'Neil reporting, and today is a monumental…" The camera man begins to lower the camera, pointing with his free hand behind her.

"What…"April turns to look behind her, "…the hell is that?"

Behind her, two six plus foot tall humanoid toads begin to materialize in a shimmer of sparkles holding swords in various sword style poses. The camera man drops his camera and takes off running.

"Everything is like a loaded gun and you know we're going to win again, princess!" Rash declares, extending his sword toward April.

April begins to walk backwards slowly, at a loss for words from the fear she is feeling.

"Dude! Chill out! Or we're, like, going to have to, like, totally trash your ass!" In walks four humanoid turtles from a nearby alley.

Zitz smiles.

***End Episode Two***


	3. Chapter 3

"Wannabes" Rash laughed, jabbing his sword in the turtles direction.

"Nobody messes with April without answering to the Ninja Turtles!" Raphael waved his left sai back at Rash.

"We'll see."

With that, the fight began as Rash descended upon both Raphael and Donatello, while Leonardo and Zitz began to circle one another in a stoic swordsman show off. Michelangelo fell back from the advancing groups, looking for an opening to sneak a strike in from behind.

Rash brought his sword down upon Donatello's staff, slicing it in two than bringing his sword back for a follow through. Donatello managed to back flip out of the blades way just as Michelangelo jumped in swinging both nunchaku like propellers into Rash's torso. Rash cried out from the strikes, but his body was hardened enough to take the blows. He countered with a slash but was repeatedly knocked back by Raphael's sai's.

As the two groups were squaring off, April O'Neil recovered the camera her cameraman had been carrying before he took off. She had her news story now and she was going to make sure she caught it on tape. She began to look for a place to prop the camera up for a good view of her as well as the ongoing battle.

"Crap!" She was running like a chicken with its head cut off, "Lousy coward cameraman!"

The only thing usable in sight was a parked car. She placed the camera on the roof of the car, just as Leonardo made his move against Zitz. Leonardo came down with both Katana's against Zitzs' single sword. The Battletoad's sword was far sharper than Leonardo's sword was, as pieces of Katana began to fall to the ground.

"Your sword lies broken and your gun barrels empty, you stand in the middle of a dangerous land, little turtle!" Zitz twirled his sword and then raised the blade eye level going back into a sword stance.

Leonardo threw down his damaged left sword and double gripped his right sword, bringing the hilt to thigh level.

"Without nothing as defense except my bare hands." Leonardo said, to Zitz surprise, as he brought his Katana in a side slash while running forward.

Zitz blocked Leonardo's sword with his own and began to push Leonardo backwards with their pressing blades. Leonardo ducked and slid, riding the force of Zitz attempt, getting a quick slash across Zitz's left side. Zitz roared and came back with a heavy handed slash toward Leonardo, who was now standing up. Leonardo twirled and blocked the blade with his own only to watch as his last blade shattered.

"Now you die, Ninja curdle!" Zitz twirled his sword and brought it to rest at the throat of Leonardo who was defiant as ever in his unarmed stance.

"Not so fast, dude!" Michelangelo jumped in with a nunchuku strike to Zitz's head, causing him to retreat.

Zitz fell back toward the place he had materialized at and met the backside of a retreating Rash. Zitz turned to look at Rash and Rash did likewise causing Zitz to shake his left hand. A transmitter appeared in his hand and as he spoke into it, he flexed the arm and gave the turtles an evil look.

"Looks like we're going to need backup on this one, bro!" Zitz yelled to both Rash and Doctor T. Bird through the transmitter, "Dragon style!"

At that moment a six foot human in an open red vest and red pants materialized in a show of sparks saying, "Make that…" followed by another six foot human in a blue open vest and pants saying, "DOUBLE DRAY-GUN!" Who then proceeded to air guitar.

"I took the liberty of having the Double Dragon Twins on standby in case you two couldn't handle the turtles," Professor's sarcasm was back, "give 'em hell Lee boys."

"Dudes, we may be in a pickle here." Raphael spoke to the other turtles who were grouping behind Leonardo.

"We've got this, even if we don't." Leonardo spoke grimly.

The two men who had materialized where Jimmy(red) and Billy(blue) Lee, also known as the Double Dragon twins. They were from another dimension that the Dark Queen had once tried to influence in her bid to gain more magical power. The Dragon Twins were in possession of magic amulets that lent them the power of the dragon gods and with that power the Dark Queen would have been increasingly more powerful than she had been. Billy and Jimmy had aided the Battletoads before in their fight against the Dark Queen and were always ready to jump into action when Professor T. Bird rang.

Jimmy walked past the toads and pumped his fist in front of his face, "Where's the fight? All I see is a bunch of losers in a half shell!" Then he began to laugh.

As this new development played out, April had already begun recording what was going on with the camera she had sat on the car earlier, "…oh my god! A new group has just appeared and are challenging the Turtles as well. The two frogs seemed to be giving the turtles enough trouble but now, with the addition of two more fighters, have the turtles met their match?"

There was a loud scream and Donatello crashed into the car that had the camera April was using. She rushed forward and managed to catch it before it fell to the ground and shattered. Donatello was deep in the engine well of the car and silent. April turned in time to see Zitz coming at her, sword raised high above her head. Instinctively she raised the camera to face level and ducked. There was a loud sound of metal upon metal but the force of impact was absent. She had closed her eyes sometime during the ducking but now she opened them to find Kasey Jones standing in front of her, blocking Zitz with a reinforced hockey stick that was slowly being sliced through.

"I'd run if I were you, April." Kasey said in a strained breath.

She didn't need any more motivation and took off in a rush, carrying her camera with her.

Kasey shifted, pushed Zitz back and freed his left hand from the hockey stick. Then, from a back pocket, her retrieved several smoke bombs. Tossing them to the ground, he covered his entire person with smoke, disappearing from Zitz's view. Zitz didn't wait and began to slash up the car, if not to at least make an attempt for Donatello. Kasey had already carried Donatello off though and begun smoking out the rest of the group, allowing the turtles to make a hasty escape.

"DAMNIT!" Zitz slammed his fist into the briefing room table, "Four untrained turtles shouldn't be this much trouble."

"Not only that, the Princess knows we're here. From now on she'll be on guard." Rash spoke.

"We have to find out where they are hiding, what they are planning to do next." Zitz started to look toward the Professor.

"I have that one covered. Should the Dark Princess use any of her powers, I'll be able to detect them from here and then it'll only be a matter of time before you all close in on her." The Professor spoke with a matter-of-factly style.

"So you're suggesting we wait?" Jimmy frowned.

"Got any better ideas?" Zitz glared at Jimmy and he kept quiet, "Then we wait."

Leonardo and Raphael had each and arm of Donatello's over their shoulders as them and Michelangelo limped back to their place deep in the sewers.

"Who were those guys back there, Leonardo?" Raphael asked, looking forward as they drug Donatello's unconscious body.

"I don't know but I have a feeling Master Splinter may." Leonardo kept looking forward too.

"Why so sure?"

"Because they seemed to know us, even though we don't know them. Maybe Master Splinter has fought them before."

"We need to focus on healing Donatello, not picking another fight." Michelangelo chimed in from the back.

"That's why you two are going to stay with Donatello while I speak with Master Splinter." Leonardo replied.

For the rest of the walk, it was a grim silence only broken by the occasional scurry of vermin feet and dripping water. The mood was as black as the tunnels they trotted through and things looked only to get darker.

***END EPISODE THREE***


	4. Chapter 4

Chiming bells.

Smoking incense.

Draped cloth.

A turtle kneeling before a large rat sitting on a cushioned chair, eyes closed, arms and legs in meditative positions, slowly mouthing a mantra. Leonardo had come before the Ninja Turtles master and was now showing reverence as he drew closer.

"What is it, my young student?" Master Splinter opened his eyes and focused on the bowed head of Leonardo.

"My master, we have met worthy foes. Donatello lies wounded, Kasey and April are scattered and we are at a loss as to who our enemies are and what they want." Leonardo spoke in a near whisper.

Master Splinter closed his eyes.

"They kept referring to April as Princess and I believe they were here to kill her."

"Who were they?"

"Two toads, like we're turtles, but taller, stronger and more experienced."

"Did they quote song lyrics?"

"One of them did."

Master Splinter opened his eyes again and moved to from his seat to where Leonardo was bowing then placed his left hand on Leonardo's shoulder, "What else?"

"They called in two humans they called the Dragon Twins."

"The Dragon and the Toad have come for April. Alone, the turtle cannot win, but with five other teenagers with attitudes, there may be a chance." Splinter gripped Leonardo's shoulder.

"Where do we find these… teenagers with attitude?" Leonardo was uncertain about that term.

"Angel Grove, California."

"Forgive my impertinence, but that is across the continent. How will we get there and back before our foes return again for April?"

Splinter retrieved a gold coin from his pocket with his right hand and raised Leonardo's head with his left so that he would look at it then he said, "This coin is an emblem of the power that fills them. It will take you to their command center. Once there, you are to make arrangements for them to come to New York. Tell them Master Splinter summons them, they will understand."

Leonardo took the coin and examined it, "How does it work?"

"Hold it in your right hand, bring it to your chest, then thrust it outward in front of yourself and say 'It's transportin' time!'" Master Splinter made motions with an imaginary coin.

"Why have they come for April?" Leonardo finally asked after putting the coin away in his head band.

"I do not know. I had seen them before, years ago, and they were a force for good. But now, their motives seem muddled and cloudy, their minds overtaken with vengeance. Be wary of them, young student, their true powers are yet to be shown." With that, Master Splinter returned to his seat.

Leonardo rose slightly with his head still lowered and walked out backwards. After passing through the first barrier of hanging cloths, he rose up fully and walked back to the rest of the Ninja Turtles. Donatello still lay unconscious, wrapped blankets in the middle of the floor.

"We need to get him to a doctor." Michelangelo turned to look at Leonardo.

"We can't move him again. It's too risky even if we aren't stopped by those things from earlier." Leonardo replied walking closer.

"Then what are going to do? Let him die?" Michelangelo was angry and spit every word out with force.

Leonardo retrieved the coin Splinter had given him earlier from his head band and showed it to the group.

"We are going to use this to transport us to Angel Grove. There, we may be able to find someone who can help Donatello better than we can." Leonardo turned away from the other turtles.

"It's transportin' time!" Leonardo yelled as he did the hand motions that Splinter showed him.

As he did the hand motions, the air around him began to smudge and shift. When he finished both the motions and the words, a massive yellow portal appeared in front of Leonardo.

"Come on Michelangelo and Raphael. Bring Donatello as well, we may yet be able to revive him." And with that, the turtles left through the portal into Angel Grove.

Up in low earth orbit, the Battletoads and the Lee brothers were in their respective bunks resting for the next inevitable fight. The Professor had stayed active, searching the New York area for any signs that the Dark Princess was accessing her powers but as of yet, nothing.

Maybe she hasn't learned them yet, The Professor thought, or maybe they're still too weak.

This gave him an idea and he began to change the frequency that the scanners were searching on. Almost instantly, the screen flared with the signatures of a massive energy release. Down below, under the city, someone had just used a powerful magic. What kind, The Professor could not make out, but it was magic nonetheless.

"Toads! Lee brothers! Wake up! We've found the Princess!" Professor T. Bird spoke in a PA.

Rash came running in first, "Where is she?"

"In the underground tunnels underneath the same city you all just left. My scanners have detected magic being used in distant section of the tunnels but for what purpose, I can not be sure."

"It could be a trap." Zitz walked in, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I detect one life form down in the tunnels. The turtles may be using April as bait to lure you in a hard to assault position." A wireframe representation of the tunnels along with the life form signature replaced the face of Professor T. Bird.

"Professor, you still have the hover bikes?" Rash smiled as he spoke.

"Indeed." the Professor replied, returning to the screen.

"This is going to be so bad!" Jimmy said as he walked in and high fived Rash.

"Hell yeah!" Rash said back.

***End Episode Four***


	5. Chapter 5

"I see you!"

It was the hallway again. Twisting, churning, walls made of rubber and water. April O'Neil took off running, once more, down the hallway just as she had in the other two dreams.

"I have you now!"

Faster and faster, the world was beginning to shake. Everything was falling apart and the crow's face was beginning to peek through the falling walls of the hallway.

"April…"

"No! No!" She covered her face and began back peddling but immediately hit a wall that had not been behind her before.

"April!"

She began screaming and flailing, swinging her fists in the air. They connected with something solid and this brought her back to reality with a jolt. She was awake, Casey Jones had been trying to wake her up and she had punched him in his masked face.

"April! Jeeze!" Casey said, moving away from the couch she was sleeping on.

"I'm sorry, Casey." She sat up and felt the warmth of tears begin to pool behind her eyes, "It's these nightmares I've been having. They're getting worse with each night, I don't know what to do."

Casey moved back to the couch and sat behind where she had raised up, letting her lay her head on his lap as he laid his right arm across her shoulder and chest in a comforting hug. He didn't say anything, he wasn't sure what to say.

They had met up after fleeing the earlier fight and had gone to Casey's shack in the woods with the assumption that virtually no one knew of its existence, especially the Battletoads. She had fallen asleep on his couch while he had begun gathering replacements for the weapons he had lost during his fight with one of the toads.

The turtles were in retreat and from what he saw, in dire straights from this new threat. He had barely fought off one of them in trying to save April, the next time he didn't think he would be so lucky. The turtles had their own problem, his was April. Not that he saw her as a problem, the turtles had the city, he had her.

"April." He spoke slowly.

"Yeah?" Her voice was shaky and weak as she stared into nothingness trying not to fall asleep again.

"Now may not be the best time but…"

The Turtles stood in the command center of the Power Rangers with Zordon looking on as Leonardo greeted the Rangers while the other two turtles held Donatello on a makeshift stretcher.

"Forgive our intrusion," Leonardo gave a quick bow, "but Master Splinter summons you in the defense of New York from an extra-dimensional aggressor known as the Battletoads."

"Battletoads. Why have they come against you?" Zordon spoke, looking upward at nothing.

"Our Master Splinter believes they have become so twisted and lost in their pursuit of vengeance that they have lost themselves to the darkness. They believe a friend of ours to be evil."

"It saddens me to have to make the Rangers face such foes, foes I knew as allies once."

"No one threatens an ally of the Rangers," The Red Ranger flexed his left bicep, "Not even the battle toads!" Then he flexed his right bicep.

The other rangers fell in behind him and flexed their left arms while extending their right arms diagonal and vertically away from themselves, "We've got your back!" they all said in unison.

"Good luck Rangers," Zordon lowered his gaze and a beam of light shone down on all of the Rangers, "I have added a super battle-izer mode to your suits, use it well."

"There is one more thing," Leonardo moved back and sideways, moving his left hand toward Donatello, "He may die without special assistance."

"I'll stay behind and see what I can do." The Blue Ranger said, moving out from behind the Red Ranger.

Leonardo bowed again.

"Now, we must talk about equipping you turtles with weapons for the coming fight." The Red Ranger placed a hand on Leonardo's shoulder and began leading him off to the armory.

The Professors' ship had dropped down to a low thirty thousand feet for the next stage of the Battletoads operation against the Ninja Turtles. Both the Battletoads and the Lee Twins were on hover bikes in the bay area waiting for Professor T. Birds' signal to drop.

"We hit her hard and fast," Zitz had gone over the plan ten times already with the group, but he was demanding perfection and so he did it again, "Me and Rash will take point. You two keep up and watch our backs. We will clear the tunnels of any traps, you two make sure no one gets on our six. The Princess is ours but if you see a clear and clean shot, you take it!"

"We got it, dude." Jimmy sighed, revving his bike.

"See if you can keep up." Rash smirked toward Jimmy.

Jimmy popped his bike backwards, revving it again, "Try not to take all night, gramps."

Rash was about to retort but the green light came on and the bay doors opened. One by one the four, on their hover bikes, jumped out of the bay and began their decent through the darkening sky.

The air was already growing chilly from the coming night. The moon was halved and already becoming enshrouded by the nighttime cloud cover as the four fell through the sky toward the New York skyline.

Zitz adjusted his bike and began priming the bikes twin forward mounted laser cannons. The whipping air was too noisy for him to hear the beep letting him know that the batteries were at full power. A small radar panel began reporting what adjustments to his trajectory he needed to make which was then feed to the three other bikes behind him. Automatic retro-thrusters began to kick in at the ten thousand mark and Zitz lit up the city with the flares of his laser blasts as he tore a hole into the sewer entrance below.

Zitz dove into the flaming tunnel first, slamming his chasis down on the damp tunnel floor before shooting off into the darkness. The other three fell in behind him in uniform precision.

Left, right, left, strafe left-up, jump, jump-strafe-right-up, and an exploding wall. Was this the best the turtles defense had to offer? There were hardly any traps and Zitz was still going at full speed. He had run tunnels more challenging than this back in training, the turtles were in trouble if this was their best.

"Destination up ahead." The computer flashed on his radar screen.

Zitz was one for an entrance, he squeezed the trigger on the handle bars and the laser cannons began to let loose a barrage that began tearing through the wooden barricade up ahead. An explosion shot through the tunnel and the heat of fire was already in the air when Zitz came to a stop and jumped off his bike. Pulling his sword from the holster, he turned back to the other three coming to a stop behind his bike.

"Talk about a milk run." Rash said stretching like he was bored.

"You ladies sure are slipping if this caused you to call us in." Billy high-fived Jimmy.

"Think of this as extra credit learning, children. We're about to show you how it's done." Zitz turned around toward the ruined entrance.

"I love you April." Casey spoke as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"I know you do." She closed her eyes

"No, I'm in love with you."

"I will kill you, princess. Scream at my face because the grisly scars went unavenged until now!" Zitz cried out as he jumped into what used to be the living room of the turtles sewer home.

"You have finally come, toad." Master Splinter walked in, removing his robe and revealing a samurai gi and pants underneath.

"Where is she, little rat?" Zitz pointed his blade at Splinter.

"Your mind is clouded…" Splinter took a martial arts pose.

"…and your body is soon to be broken." Zitz took a swordsman pose, blade at his face, two hands on the hilt.

"He's hurt pretty bad," Billy, the Blue Ranger spoke as he ran a scanner over Donatello, "I'll do my best but he is lucky to be alive right now."

Michelangelo turned and closed his eyes before walking off. Leonardo still stood with Billy.

"How bad is it?" Leonardo spoke in near whisper.

"Look for yourself." Billy handed the scanner to Leonardo.

A darkness took hold of Leonardo's face, a mixture of anger and sorrow, a look that brought a chill to Billy and then it was gone.

"Do what you can." And then he was gone from the room.

Master Splinter was like water. Not so much fast as that he moved over and across first Zitz then Rash then the Dragon twins as if on instinct alone, disarming them as he went. Billy went in first with fist flying but Splinter blocked each blow away with the back of his hands and then landed a blow into Billy's chest that sent him flying into the brick wall behind him.

Jimmy and Rash then jumped in, Jimmy jumping kicking while Rash charged with a Morningstar formed from his right hand. Splinter shifted into a crouch toward Jimmy then reached up and caught him under the leg and pulled, causing him to collide with Rash.

"I want you with me forever, I want to devote my life to you and would love for you to share the sentiment."

"What are you saying?"

Casey gently grabbed her hand and put a ring on it.

"Casey…"

He turned her head, he removed his mask and they kissed.

Zitz moved in, block for block, strike for strike. Master Splinter rolled through every blow that Zitz managed to land only to land a blow for himself against the toad. Every chop Splinter went for, Zitz guided away with a counter chop and brought a fist down against Splinter that was then immediately rolled through again. It was a complicated dance of elder fighters. But eventually, Splinter rolled one too many strikes and Zitz caught him around the neck with his right arm. Zitz inflated his hand enough to make Splinters attempts to pull his hand off useless.

"No matter how long you torture me…" Splinter spat.

"Battletoads take no prisoners." Zitz said calmly and coldy.

****End Episode Five****


	6. Chapter 6

A horrific explosion ripped through a downtown street throwing cement, vehicles and people into the sky as well as ripping off a good portion of the storefronts located in close proximity. The night air was filled with the smell of raw sewage and burning materials as the road collapsed inward. Out of the hole jumped Master Splinter who now had a certain glowing property about him that seemed to only show up in the corner of ones' eye. Following him were the Battletoads using grappling hooks and then the Lee brothers free climbing the wreckage.

Splinter had tapped into the mystical energies of the Shinobi at the last second and escaped from Zitz but the fight was far from over. Zitz was clutching his right hand to his chest and was holding his sword in his left hand now. He was ambidextrous so the injury to his hand had not slowed him down.

As this played out, across town, three ex-cops were startled to alertness when they saw the massive fireball light up the sky. Their names were Axel, Adam and Blaze, they were ex-members of special taskforce meant to infiltrate and destroy mutant crime rings that had started sprouting up in the city. They had been cut from the team when they had found out that the mysterious Mr X had taken over the squad, using it to muscle in on his competition. They had defeated Mr X and had now vowed to be vigilantes against the mutants living in New York.

"Da hell was that?" Axel yelled, jerking forward in the passenger seat of the three's Lamborghini.

"Holy hell!" Adam began switching through CB channels.

"Shit son! Forget da CB, kick it up and lets get rollin'!" Blaze yelled, pushing on Adams seat.

Back at the fight, Master Splinter was moving faster now. His Shinobi power was flowing through him, but it wouldn't last forever, he was growing tired quick.

"Quit dragging this out, old rat!" Zitz yelled, taking a swing at Splinter with his sword.

Splinter chuckled and then brought three strikes down upon Zitz's solar plexus. He fell to his knees and a swift kick from Splinter sent him to the ground. Billy and Jimmy had found pipes as they were moving through the rubble and charged Splinter. Splinter began to levitate and extended his right hand, a burst of Ki shot from it. The Dragon twins dodged it and the blast hit the building behind them causing the storefront to explode.

People were running away in panic as the fight carried on. Cop cars had begun arriving to block off the street, one end from the other but it would only be a matter of time before the two groups would burst through the barricade of vehicles.

"Dude! We ain't got tah'm for this shit, yo!" Jimmy turned to Billy.

"I hear ya, bro!" Billy replied, reaching into his shirt and pulling out his medallion necklace.

With that, the brothers united their dragon medallions and flames exploded around them. In the distance, a dragon roar could be heard and when the flames had dissipated, the Dragon Twins were wearing shining leather versions of their old suits as well as having gained more muscle mass.

"Now you taste the true power," Billy bringing both arms in a curl, "Of the Dray-gun! Yeah!" Jimmy double fist pumping into the air.

The two launched themselves at Splinter as Rash began to attend to Zitz, pulling him off to the side of the street. Billy struck first, jumping into the air and landing with a series of air kicks and punches against Splinter. This attack brought Splinter down to the ground before he knocked Billy away. Then Jimmy followed up with a series of spin kicks followed by a light Ki blast from his fists causing a blocking Splinter to skid on the concrete backwards a few feet.

"You have much to learn, when it comes to mastering the dragons." Splinter began to twirl his wrists and arch his body downward.

Billy went in for another series of fist strikes but Splinter moved through them as he had back down in the sewer only this time he gave two quick palm chops to Billy's side causing him to bend in a vain attempt to block. He went for a counter and found Splinter grabbing his shoulders. Billy got a solid punch into Splinters torso but instantly found Splinter's knee embedding itself in his chest. As he went down, Splinter ripped the medallion from Billy causing his suit to explode into flames, reverting it and him back to normal.

"You don't deserve this." Splinter spat, putting the medallion in his gi.

Splinter turned in time to see a flying punch from Jimmy. With lightning reaction time, Splinter dodged and countered, bringing his arm down on Jimmy's arm, dislocating it at the elbow. Jimmy howled and brought up his left arm but Splinter was too quick, rolling with the blow, catching the arm, then raising his arm for a breaking blow.

"Your former glories and all the stories dragged and washed with eager hands. All your cities lie in dust." The breaking blow never came as Zitz had recovered and in a quick move, ran his sword through Splinter, whispering those words in his ear as Splinter began to gasp for breath.

Zitz jerked the sword out of Splinter and watched as he fell to the ground in a growing pool of dark blood. The Battletoads were genetically altered to heal faster than normal, his hand was already back to normal and the blows Splinter landed had winded him at best. Rash walked up with a bundle of rope in his hands

"Freeze!" A squad of policemen had advanced on the warring group with guns raised.

"See if you can handle my light work, Dragon boys." Zitz ignored the cops and grabbed the rope from Rash.

Rash turned to watch as the Dragon Twins pulled blasters from their vests and proceeded to decimate the advancing cops mercilessly in a one sided laser light show. His stomach grew into a knot as he thought to himself, "These were innocent natives approaching a misunderstood threat. There was no need for this." The damage was done, though, the police squad lay in a mangled pile of charred remains.

Not far from the carnage, the Lamborghini driven by Axel was getting closer to the battle scene. Screams of downed officers and reports of giant toads and rats filled the cabin as the three looked grimly onward toward the rising column of smoke.

"My God." Blaze said, covering her mouth.

"Punch dis bucket o' bolts harder, Axel. Peeps be dyin' out dere!" Adam yelled as Axel switched the nitrous on.

"Where is Leonardo?" Michelangelo asked as he approached the Red Ranger who was finishing the final checks on the craft the turtles would be piloting.

"He left without warning or excuse. He spoke to Zordon in private, making us all leave the Command Room, and teleported out to locations unknown." The Red Ranger turned toward Michelangelo and pushed the device he was inspecting toward the turtle.

The device was a hover-board. It looked like a surfboard, was as light as a surfboard but it was capable of floating in mid-air and accelerating to great speeds. Michelangelo took the board from the table it had been laying on and propped it up on the floor looking it over.

"A refitted model of our old skyboards?"

"Billy had more of a hand in it than me, he just showed me what I needed to do." The Red Ranger pointed to the underside of the board, "There is a micro-rocket launcher in it as well as a homing beacon. It should be fast enough to keep up with the Zords as we travel to New York."

"The Zords will never work in the streets of Manhattan."

"The Zords are a last resort. We will engage the enemies in full battle-izer armor, if they prove to be too much, we will then morph to the Zords."

"I totally hate leaving without Donatello," Michelangelo looked toward the room that held Zordon, "But we don't know how long it will be before those things strike again."

"It'll be fine, I have a feeling he has an ace he is preparing to use."

"…"

With that, Michelangelo turned to head back to the launch bay where Raphael had camped out, waiting for their departure back to New York. He wasn't halfway into the hallway when Zordon came over the PA calling everyone into the Command Room.

"There has been a development. Local news stations across New York are reporting a major battle has taken place in the downtown area." Zordon announced after everyone was gathered in the room. Zordon began projecting footage being shown by news copters.

"What! No, it must be…" Michelangelo began, "Master Splinter!" Raphael finished as the scenes of Master Splinter hanging from a lamp post in a destroyed street section was shown. The turtles fell to their knees and began to scream in rage.

"Bring me the princess! Bring her to me or I will tear apart this entire world!" The voice of Zitz played over the image. It was then replaced by the voice of a reporter recapping the violence that had recently occurred along with a report on the deaths of several officers who had tried to apprehend the group.

"I am truly sorry." Zordon spoke softly.

"We destroy them tonight. I don't care what we have to do, they're dead." Raphael spoke, after he had calmed down.

"Megazord?" The Red Ranger asked.

"Do it. I don't care if I lose my soul in the process, dude, they're going to pay." Michelangelo rose, fire in his eyes.

With that, the turtles and the Power Rangers, except for the Blue Ranger and Donatello, departed. The Megazord taking the lead in the air while the turtles followed behind on the hover boards.

****End Episode Six****


End file.
